What’s Happening With Enrollments?

1. What’s Happening With Enrollments? Deb Bialeschki, ACA National Staff

2. Where did we get these data? • Asked for enrollment/recruitment data in Jan and April 2005 • Asked Directors to supply actual enrollment information in Oct-Nov ’05 • 527 camp directors completed the Oct-Nov survey (6 from USNY) • Analyzed by total group as well as for differences based on camp type, sponsorship, and geographic area

3. Profiles of Camps in Survey • Camp Affiliation • 34% agency and governmental camps • 30% independent not for profit (30%) • 21% independent for profit (21%) • 15% religiously-affiliated (15%) • Type of camp: • 75% resident camps • 25% day camps

4. Camp Profiles- con’t • Camper clientele: • 69% co-ed • 18% girls only • 5% boys only • 8% combinations • Geographic areas: • 26% from the Mid-Atlantic (Chesapeake, Keystone, NJ, NY, Upstate NY, VA) • 25% from Mid-America (Great Rivers, IL, IN, Northlands, OH, St. Louis, WI) • 20% New England • 15% South (Texoma, Southeastern, Heart of the South) • 14% West (Evergreen, Northern and Southern CA, Oregon Trail, Rocky Mountain, and Southwest)

5. Popular Session Lengths

6. Total Camper Weeks

7. Camper Weeks Compared to ‘04

8. Percent Higher/Lower than ‘04

9. Boys’ Enrollment Compared to ‘04

10. Percent Higher/Lower than ‘04

11. Girls’ Enrollment Compared to ‘04

12. Percent Higher/Lower than ‘04

13. Campers Younger than 10 Enrollment Compared to ‘04

14. Percent Higher/Lower than ‘04

15. Campers 10-12 Enrollment Compared to ‘04

16. Percent Higher/Lower than ‘04

17. Teen Campers’ Enrollment Compared to ‘04

18. Percent Higher/Lower than ‘04

19. Percent of Returning Campers

20. Returning Campers’ Enrollment Compared to ‘04

21. Percent Higher/Lower than ‘04

22. Financially Supported Camper Weeks

23. Financially Supported Camper Weeks Compared to ‘04

24. Financially Supported Camper Weeks Percent Higher/Lower than ‘04

25. Total $$ for Camper Support

26. Camp Enrollment Compared To Past Five Summers

27. Percentage of Total Capacity For Summer 2005

28. Total Percent of Targeted Capacity For Summer 2005

31. Differences by Sponsorship • Religiously affiliated camps experienced consistent decreases (boys, girls, 10-12 year old campers, and teen campers) • Agency camps stayed the same or increased slightly in boys’ enrollment and 10-12 year olds • Independent for Profit camps maintained or increased slightly in girls’ and teen enrollments. • Independent for Profit camps had the highest rate of returning campers (75-100%) • Independent not for Profit camps had the lowest return rate (50-74%)

32. Sponsorship Differences- con’t • IFP camps had highest capacity camper enrollment ( 90-99%) while religiously-affiliated camps had the lowest (80-89%) • Most camps were within 90-99% of their targeted capacity • Popular session lengths varied by affiliation. Ex.=religious-affiliated favored the shorter sessions (1-2 weeks) while IFP camps like longer sessions (4+ weeks).

33. What have we learned? • Loss of camper weeks in some camps was offset by comparable increases in other camps (camper swapping) • Camps in the West and to a lesser degree in the South have greatest enrollment challenges • The concern over enrollment differences for day and resident camps were not evident in these data.

34. What we learned- con’t • Enrollment decreases are a concern for religiously-affiliated camps. • When enrollments were maintained at previous levels or increased, these gains were spread throughout the camp community

35. Want to see more detail? • Go to www.acacamps.org/research • Under research efforts, click on 2005 Camp Enrollment Survey • Under October Survey, click on view results • View the results summary or click on gray box to add filter(s) to tailor the data (Ex. section, sponsorship, type, etc) • Questions? Contact Deb Bialeschki at dbialeschki@acacamps.org